Humanism

Introduction

Humanism is a tradition of values that emphasizes the importance of human dignity, virtue, capabilities, and
concerns. It does not directly consider the question of the existence of God, but rather the morality and ethics
of human conduct; for humanists, the morality of the individual’s conduct remains a crucial consideration
whether or not a god exists, hence there are both theist and
atheist humanists. Of the ethics which underlay humanist philosophy, rationality is strongly emphasized:
those who follow this philosophy strive to base all of their convictions, religious or secular, on sound
evidence and reasoning.

History

The birth of humanism can be traced as far back as 1000 BCE to the Lokayata philosophy of India. Around the sixth
century BCE, Taoist teacher Laozi imported this philosophy to China,
where Confucius was also teachings ethics which centered on human conduct. In the Pali texts of the Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha showed skepticism about the
supernatural world, arguing that it is absurd to believe that human existence is permanent if neither a soul nor
anything associated with it exists.

Also in the sixth century BCE, humanistic philosophy arose in the Ionian Greek world with the pantheists Thales
of Miletus and Xenophanes of Colophon. While Xenophanes rejected the gods of his time and recognized the
principle of unity with the universe, Thales is credited with the maxim, “Know thyself”. Other classical Greek
humanists who relied on reason and criticized superstition include Anaxagoras, reputedly the first “free
thinker”, his pupil, Pericles, Democritus and Protagoras, and Thucydides.

Epicurus, the first Greek philosopher to admit women into his schools, challenged belief in the afterlife while
also tackling the problem of evil, showing the ability of the philosopher to consider moral questions apart from
the supernatural.

Humanism
re-emerged in the late Middle ages and Renaissance as an intellectual movement in western Europe. The Italian
poet Petrarch was possibly the first pre-modern humanist and was the first to identify a definite “dark age”
between the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476 and his own time. As a solution to medieval “ignorance”,
Petrarch suggested the study of classical liberal arts, such as rhetoric, poetry, and grammar, by figures such
as Cicero. Many scholars agree that these medieval humanists were not secular humanists in the modern sense, but
were often involved in the church and were sometimes even priests.

The modern understanding of humanism—especially secular humanism—originated largely with the French
Enlightenment: a French periodical of 1765 defined the term as a “love of humanity”. Enlightenment thinkers
adopted this sense of humanism to extol the virtues of the human being irrespective of the supernatural. This
emerging secular humanism was attacked by religious and political conservatives who opposed the French
Revolution and the philosophy of Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau, and secular humanists have struggled
ever since to portray their belief system in a positive light.

Beliefs

Religious humanists believe in sufficient evidence for the existence of God, but they do not accept claims of
Biblical inerrancy, while secular humanists generally find insufficient evidence for the existence of God, and
hence many of them are atheists or agnostics. In addition, humanists emphasize the
importance of life in the present world rather than in an afterlife. Of itself, atheism has nothing to say about
morality or life purpose — it is simply the doctrine that there is no God. Since atheism concerns itself with
the existence of God, and not necessarily human virtues, humanism takes up where atheism leaves off by shifting
the focus back on these virtues. In their effort to realize humanity’s full potential, modern humanists often
endorse scientific skepticism and the scientific method. Social justice issues are central concerns for all
humanists; among these issues are gender and racial equality, reproductive rights, civil rights, freedom of and
from religion, and separation of church and state.

Humanism has no sacred text which codifies humanist beliefs. However, the writings of many humanists over
thousands of years comprise an informal, evolving canon. Important early figures in humanism were Socrates,
Aristotle and Confucius, all of whose works were seminal in the development of the philosophy. Among the most
important modern humanist philosophers have been Brand Blanshard, a professor of philosophy at Yale University,
and Thomas Hurka, a professor of philosophy at the University of Calgary. In general, humanists place a great
deal of emphasis on living a full life, with a rich variety of experiences and accomplishments, and in
contributing to the quality of life of others as well. Those who try to make the world a better place are living
humanistically.

Humanists do not believe in self-realization at the cost of “weeding out the weak”. The phrase “survival of the
fittest” is derived from the theory of evolution originally proposed by Charles
Darwin. They do believe that human beings, like every other living thing, evolved from simpler
organisms, but they believe that the evolutionary process itself does not provide an ethical standard. Like many
religions, humanism endorses the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Humanism and Religion

The attitudes of humanists towards the world’s religions vary widely. Some
humanists, having been persecuted for their convictions, or seeing religion as superstitious, have an active
dislike of all forms of religion; others recognize value in religion, though in a very questioning, seeking way;
others yet are somewhere in between, seeing religion as a mixed blessing which consists of both oppressive or
irrational dogma as well as universal human principles.

Many humanists believe there is great need of religious reform and enlightenment. While advances in science and
technology have been highly profitable, and thus practical to invest in, philosophy has generated few, if any,
fortunes, and has therefore had few benefactors in the business sector. The consequence, from a humanist
perspective, is that we have become spiritual barbarians in possession of tremendously powerful weapons and
tools. Hence, humanists see a need to return to a state of self-reflection.

Although it has been argued that God is necessary to define morality, history has shown otherwise. The Japanese,
for example, developed an ethic known as Bushido which was non-spiritual but nevertheless served as a code of
conduct; although a mixed blessing, it was at least no more destructive than organized religion. Similarly, the
Chinese philosophy of Confucianism has served as a non-spiritual
code of ethics for the Chinese, largely with beneficial effects. Just like everybody else, these humanists have
shown moral lapses due to the fallibility of human nature; nevertheless, both of these non-religious doctrines
served large numbers of people well for long periods of time.

Critics of humanism might wonder how humanists can think of life as meaningful without considering the existence
of God. However, many humanists would point out that life is meaningful because of good relationships,
meaningful work, and so on, and that these things are valuable whether or not there is a God to make determine
their value. For humanists, God would commend these things because they are intrinsically valuable, and not just
because God exists to deem them so.